India's PV Sindhu won the Korea Open Superseries after defeating Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 22-20, 11-21, 21-18 in a hard-fought match that lasted an hour and 23 minutes.
With this, Sindhu became the first Indian to win the tournament. This is her second Superseries win in 2017 and third overall after clinching the India Open earlier this year and the China Open in 2016.
The two players had previously met in the World Championships final last month -- in a thriller that lasted an hour and 50 minutes -- where the 22-year-old Japanese had come out on top post three tight games.
Sindhu gets her angles right
Coming into the match as the first Indian woman and only the second Indian after Ajay Jayaram in 2015 to make the final of the tournament, Sindhu opened the match well, playing a drop shot that Okuhara failed to lift. Getting her angles correct, Sindhu quickly took a 5-3 lead with the use of steep smashes. Okuhara, who initially struggled at the net, got her momentum back soon after to level at 7-7 as her long shots forced Sindhu to hit wide. Concentrating on the same strategy, the Japanese led 11-9 at the changeover.
Okuhara's misjudgment costs her
Trailing 9-12, Sindhu came up with a change in strategy, playing crosscourt smashes and hitting long shots to quickly level at 12-12. From there on, both players tried to take advantage of each other's weaknesses with Sindhu drawing Okuhara forward to the net with her smooth backhand and the latter putting the Indian in a spot by mixing up her serves. Both the player stayed neck-and-neck till 17-17, before Sindhu committed two back-to-back unforced errors as the Japanese took a lead. Another wide shot later, Okuhara got two game point opportunities, which she failed to capitalise on -- owing to a wide shot and a misjudgment -- as Sindhu leveled at 20-20. Taking advantage of the situation, Sindhu quickly took the game 22-20.
Okuhara wins the net battle
Okuhara, on a 14-match winning streak, hadn't dropped a single game in the tournament until this one. Going into the second game, she marched ahead, taking a 7-3 lead with a more focused approach at the net, attempting steady returns to Sindhu's drop shots. Both players made several unforced errors resulting in shorter rallies as compared to the first game as Okuhara took a five-point lead at 11-6 at the changeover.
As Okuhara led at 14-7, Sindhu started attacking her backhand, her weaker wing. Though the strategy worked initially, Sindhu started tiring out, resulting in her making several unforced errors and hitting wide to trail 10-19. Okuhara then displayed improved net play to win two points to take the match to a decider.
Overambitious Okuhara pays the price
In the third game, another close battle ensued as both finalists continued to commit several unforced errors. Trailing 4-8, Okuhara seemingly grew impatient as she netted shots. Sindhu went back to the basics as she targeted the Japanese with her powerplay as she led with 11-5 at the changeover.
The Japanese attempted a comeback with down-the-line smashes as she took a few quick points soon after to lessen the gap at 8-12. Both Sindhu and Okuhara displayed their strengths, with Sindhu focusing on her strokeplay and Okuhara on her angles. The latter, with some smartly-angled smashes, soon reduced the six-point gap to two points at 13-15.
Sindhu's backhand proves to be the difference
Sindhu, thereafter, displayed some solid attack with her backhand to edge ahead at 18-14. Glimpses of the World Championships epic could be seen as a rally of 56 shots took place soon after -- the longest of the match, which Sindhu eventually won to lead 19-16. Her championship point opportunity came soon after as Okuhara netted the former's drop shot.
An exhausted Sindhu was on all fours on the court as Okuhara refused to give up, winning a long rally with a strong smash. It was perhaps fitting that the match ended with another long rally, as Sindhu forced Okuhara to hit wide soon after.